The songs on this collection are warm and human and worth the wait. [May 2019, p.94]

Ishmael Ensemble cleverly, psychedelically blur the lines. [Jun 2019, p.91]

Three Demons is yet wilder, more alien and untidy, swerving trad rockabilly's regulation grooves and crescendos in search of an often sinister and cactus-trippy otherness. [Jun 2019, p.94]

On this taut, pithy set he offers sardonic observations of human folly. [Jul 2019, p.93]

Featuring chamber music, operatic art singing, spoken word, drum circles and horns and woodwinds ecstatically blowing--all outside-time examples of the group's motto: "Great Black Music, Ancient too the Future." [Aug 2019, p.95]

Highlights include an Afrobeat makeover of Curtis Mayfield's Billy Jack and a soul-jazz revamp of Talking Heads' Once In A Lifetime. [Aug 2019, p.90]

An incantatory history of the acoustic guitar, as instrument of devotion, dance and lament, at times The Borametz Tree also feels like a book of incantations, spells for the universal elixir of joy, conjured up by a master alchemist. [Jul 2019, p.93]

The fervid prog punk of Flesh Fondue, the synth collision of 65 Million Years Ago and the trippy Nets Of Space are further high-points on this constantly regenerating trip. [Nov 2019, p.94]

Total fun for your brain. [Dec 2019, p.107]

On a par with McCraven's similarly sprawling and revolutionary Universal Beings--and that's no mean feat. [Jan 2020, p.89]

It's Holmes who provides the spark throughout Cypress Grove. [Feb 2020, p.94]

While relatively straitlaced on hooky earworms Good Mood and Hexagons, it vanishes into a netherworld of hypnotic minimalism amid Tol Circle's warped Mantovani exotica and the title-track's spaced-out disco frug. [Jan 2020, p.91]

Like Hope Sandoval, Savior's smoky timbre is cucumber-cool rather than over-emotive. [Feb 2020, p.86]

The resulting fusion suggests nothing less than an Eastern Astral Weeks. [Feb 2020, p.94]

Masterful vocal mash-ups with London songstress Poppy Ajudha, South African electronic upsetter Nonku Phiri and a wonderfully gravelly Obongjayar help propel this testament to Boyd's illimitable outlook far into the stratosphere. [Mar 2020, p.91]

She's a great storyteller and her guitar has plenty of country twang. But the sound is of her own making - defined by her huge one-of-a-kind voice. [Mar 2020, p.94]

It's a giant leap forward for one of the most original voices around. [Mar 2020, p.84]

Hutchings has suggested his Ancestors work is an update of the griot tradition - weaving social commentary into seemingly harmless party pieces. We Are Sent Here By History achieves more: transforming impending doom into an affirmation of life. [Apr 2020, p.92]

Serene, mostly, where free improv is usually abrasive. [Jul 2020, p.88]

The most instantly appealing to date, channeling a high degree of emotional intensity and a remarkable sense of joy through minimal instrumentation. [Jul 2020, p.87]

A mutant sound equal parts soft-pop, hard-fusion and psychedelic prog. [Jul 2020, p.80]

There's something likable and everyman about his voice, which sits easily with the variety of vintage country styles on these 14 new songs. [Sep 2020, p.87]

Here across 11 instrumentals, it's a totally entrancing journey as grooves are saturated by horn swells, eerie organ, bad-trip backwards guitars and drum breaks ready for sampling. [Nov 2020, p.83]

Something of a sonic lucky dip, these 20 short, super buzzy impregnably titled tracks often switch beats or cut-off abruptly, underlying its rule-breaking creator's rookie confidence. [Oct 2020, p.93]

Punchier and more accessible, while still showcasing the sextet's psychedelic bona fides. [Nov 2020, p.84]

Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain, Raymond's staggering second album, leaves no doubt that she is among the most vital, dynamic voices within the still-teeming solo guitar orbit. [Dec 2020, p.82]

British cellist and Radiohead collaborator has created something darker but much more impressive [than 2018's Shelley's On Zann-La]. [Dec 2020, p.87]

Poised somewhere between rootless anger and quiet revolution. [Dec 2020, p.87]